President Donald Trump on Thursday visited a U.S. base installation at the center of American involvement in the Middle East as he uses his four-day visit to Gulf states to reject the “interventionism” of America’s past in the region.

In other parts of the Middle East violence flared in the West Bank, and a hospital in southern Gaza said 54 people have been killed in overnight airstrikes on the city of Khan Younis.

Trump spoke of American military strength as he addressed troops at Qatar’s al-Udeid Air Base, which was a major staging ground during the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It also supported the recent U.S. air campaign against Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis, though the strikes themselves came from two aircraft carriers in the region.

The president has held up Gulf nations like Saudi Arabia and Qatar as models for economic development in a region plagued by conflict as he works to entice Iran to come to terms with his administration on a deal to curb its nuclear program.

The President also meets business leaders in Qatar before heading to Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates.